The great and the good (extensive poetic licence used) of the SPL and SFL will gather at Hampden tomorrow to shuffle the deckchairs of Scottish football. For reasons which no one has, or will, explain, it will be suggested that three leagues, with 12, 12 and 18 teams, will be able to resolve the problems of our game.
There will be no consultation with fans, Uefa or neighbouring associations, and no claim will be made that this reorganisation will be able to resolve a single significant issue.
For all its limited appeal, the Scottish Football League is in rude health. On the whole clubs live within their means and in places play important roles in their communities. This is as good as it gets for the likes of Alloa, Montrose or Brechin City. They could all benefit from a higher solidarity payment from above, but this would be the case no matter what level the trickle-down was set at. Their interests would be best served by ensuring that those sending payments down the pyramid are as fat as possible.
The clubs with most to gain from substantive change are those condemned to compete for second place in the SPL. Dundee United, Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts have been neutered in recent decades. United and Aberdeen have gone from being the two most impressive clubs in Europe at developing young talent, to clubs who cannot hold onto players long enough to put a competitive team on the field.
Scottish clubs with ample support, stadium and coaching talent have been left behind by smaller clubs in England, from Wigan to Burnley, who benefit from operating in a more lucrative commercial environment.
Hearts are trying to sell shares to raise a few million to keep themselves afloat at the moment. The club would be worth ten times as much if it was located 100 miles down the road, or structural change made it possible for it to benefit from a more valuable environment. Shares in clubs like Aberdeen, Dundee United and Hibs would also be worth many multiples of their current value.
Stephen Thompson has spoken of the financial burden Dundee United place on his family, a regionalised league structure would turn this burden into a vastly more valuable legacy. It beggars belief that Hearts, United, Aberdeen and the rest have not grasped this reality and started to make inroads.
It’s time for some radical thinking.
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weeminger
12:04 on 8 January, 2013
The political party that would really win from a yes vote is the Tories.
Then all those SNP voters who ‘didn’t mind the economic side’ of Thatcher, the ones that Salmond was speaking for when he uncharacteristically blurted out the truth, would crawl out from under their stones and would once again become a major force in Scottish politics.
quonno
11:50 on
8 January, 2013
Why do you nationalist types bring politics to football message boards?
Thankfully, only about 1/3 of the population are seperatists, next year this tedious arguement will be consigned to the bin.
Earnie was spot on, Tartan Tories.
I think the biggest boost the SNP can get for Independance is from Cameron and his side Kick.Robin Hood used to to Rob the rich to give to the poor the current Tory policy is to Rob the poor to give to the rich.We in Scotland did not vote for this mob but we get lumbered with them all the same Alex Salmond must be rubbing his hands with glee mind you I dont think he would be any better.H.H.
GerryUK- I take it that you havent read the Rowntree Foundations report on poverty and ethnicity in Scotland published only last year. Those from an irish catholic background are doing better than they used to, but not as well as the majority of the population. So thats all right as far as you’re concerned? we can now move to the middle of the bus
My personal take on why people who support Irish Independence and don’t show the same for Scotland is that the Catholic Irish didn’t have an anti-non Catholic agenda. As I’m sure, many on here will attest, many of the leaders were non-Catholic.
As seemingly was discussed on Radio Scotland this morning, many Scottish Catholics perceive an anti-Catholic agenda among the majority population. This manifests itself also in anti-Irish racial discrimination and, since in many minds, Celtic are identified as both Catholic and Irish, our team and support suffers from bias and cheating, which the Scottish media either ignore or call paranoia or try(when they can’t ignore) to equivocate.